V Square Quantitative Management LLC Has $14.86 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC trimmed its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,646 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 950 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 10.8% of V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,863,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Good Life Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 54,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,396,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 10,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,665,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Planning Center Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 24.4% in the 2nd quarter. Planning Center Inc. now owns 4,849 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,651,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 1,518,749 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $437,855,000 after purchasing an additional 94,563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sweet Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,301 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,529,000 after purchasing an additional 961 shares during the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,963,391.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $411.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. HSBC upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $347.00 to $413.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 26th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $385.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, September 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $384.34.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $346.07 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $327.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $325.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $213.43 and a 52 week high of $366.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $56.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.52 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.79% and a net margin of 35.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.35 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 26.33%.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.